First IndyStar Colts beat writer John Bansch dies at 81

John Bansch could initially be gruff. "Once you earned his respect, he was a great guy," says Bill Benner, now a senior vice president with Pacers Sports & Entertainment.(Photo: 1998 photo by Steve Healey/Indy Star)

Bill Benner remembers sitting in a little room across from the sports department of The Indianapolis Star, answering phones and collecting box scores on Friday nights while John Bansch shouted and fumed over the nightly page design.

John always played the “hard guy” around the office during his time as assistant sports editor, especially in front of the younger journalists. As Benner and others who knew him came to realize, the gruff personality was a front for the kind-hearted person he truly was.

“He didn’t want the younger people to know,” said Benner, now a senior vice president with Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “If they found that out, they would somehow take advantage of it. Once you earned his respect, he was a great guy.”

John, known fondly as “The Captain” among his peers, died March 8 at St. Vincent Seton Specialty Hospital in Indianapolis. He was 81. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Joyce; his daughters Pam (Jim) Dickerson and Paula Bansch; and sister Kathy (Bill) Hanchett; and nearly a dozen nephews and great nieces and great nephews.

John was IndyStar’s first Indianapolis Colts beat writer after the team moved to the city in 1984 and he covered the Colts for more than a decade, choosing to step down from his editor role for the position. He covered countless football and basketball games during his 41-year journalism career and took pride in being an honest reporter coaches could confide in.

Fox 59’s Mike Chappell, who worked alongside John on the Colts beat, described him as a “gruff, old newspaper guy” on first impression when he arrived at The Star. He remembers him better now as a “big teddy bear” who loved the work he did as a reporter in what John often referred to as “The Golden Age.”

“He was proud of the age of journalism that he came through,” Benner said. “Back in the day, you had to do it all. He laid out the paper, he covered football and basketball, he edited copy, wrote headlines, did five editions a night and truly covered the state.”

There are enough stories about John to fill a newspaper. But those stories are foreign to me. Now 23, I wasn’t alive for some of the best tales people have told me. So I’m going to tell the only story, the only memory, I have of John.

I had been working for The Star for about two weeks last May when my boss, Nat Newell, told me to reach out to John for information on a story about a local boxer. A quick Google search told me everything I needed to begin worrying.

In my experience, veteran sports guys are short with millennials. I suspected I would need to prove myself just to get through the conversation.

That’s not how my talk with John went at all.

John took my call happily. We talked for 45 minutes about all sorts of things — where I went to school, why I got into journalism, what I wanted to do with my life.

That’s how I knew John Bansch. And as I’m learning, that’s how many people eventually came to know John Bansch. He cared about his job, often louder than most. He cared about the industry, too. But above all else, he cared about people.

Follow IndyStar reporter Jordan J. Wilson on Twitter: @Wilsonable07.

Services set

Visitation for John Bansch will be noon-2:30 Saturday followed by a memorial service at 2:30 at Geist Christian Church, Mud Creek Campus, 8550 Mud Creek Road, Indianapolis, IN 46256.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the School of Journalism, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, Mt., 59812.